BIOTIC

BIOTIC Species Information for Corophium volutator
All Taxonomy Biology Distribution Reproduction

Researched by	Ken Neal & Penny Avant	Data supplied by	MarLIN
Refereed by	This information is not refereed.
Distribution and Habitat
Distribution in Britain & Ireland	Widely distributed on all coasts of Britain. Widely separated records in Ireland.
Global distribution	North Atlantic, American and European coasts; from western Norway to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and Azov Sea. There is also a Japanese variety, Corophium volutator orientalis (Omori & Tanaka, 1998).
Biogeographic range	Not researched	Depth range	Intertidal
Migratory	Non-migratory / Resident
Distribution Additional Information	The distribution of Corophium volutator within estuaries changes with season and hydrodynamic conditions. Because of the flood tide swimming habit of Corophium volutator in certain areas (see adult general biology), it is often concentrated within creeks and embayments and all but absent from mudflats even though they are suitable habitat. In the Ythan Estuary, Corophium volutator were found to move in and out of areas depending on salinity. In the summer when freshwater input was low, Corophium volutator was much more widespread than in the winter when high rainfall reduced the interstitial salinity and made certain areas uninhabitable (McLusky, 1968). This pattern is presumably repeated in other estuaries as well.

Substratum preferences	Sandy mud Muddy sand Mud	Physiographic preferences	Estuary Open coast
Biological zone	Upper Eulittoral Mid Eulittoral Lower Eulittoral Sublittoral Fringe	Wave exposure	Sheltered Very Sheltered Extremely Sheltered
Tidal stream strength/Water flow	Weak (<1 kn) Very Weak (negligible)	Salinity	Reduced (18-30 psu) Variable (18-40 psu) Full (30-40 psu) Low (<18 psu)
Habitat Preferences Additional Information
Distribution References	Lincoln, 1979, Fish & Fish, 1996, Hayward & Ryland, 1995b, Hayward et al., 1996, Bruce et al., 1963, Hughes & Gerdol, 1997, Omori & Tanaka, 1998, McLusky, 1968,